Super comments award!

Yay, another blog award!

I recently was awarded the Super Comments Award from both Angel of Nerd Angel and (while in the midst of writing this post), RAY J from Point Me to the Sky Above. Thanks to both of you--you write super comments yourself!

The Rules:
1. Thank person who nominated you.
2. Copy the award. Paste it in your blog.
3. Link to the person who gave me this award.
4. Answer the 10 questions that come with the award.
5. Nominate of few of your favorite bloggers for the award. (Uh, just nominate? Who will then vote on the winners?!)

The Questions:

1. Why do you blog?
I started blogging because, while I've always had a strong inner monologue (or sometimes dialogue), I'd never regularly written down my thoughts in a coherent manner, and I figured it would be nice to air those thoughts in a blog. This is still a large part of why I blog, but now that I have actual readers and blogger friends, I write to share my thoughts, experiences, and life with these readers and friends. Also, I am very passionate about my geeky interests, so I blog to share the joys of geekery.

2. What are your 3 best memories?
It's hard to pick the three best, so I'll just choose three of my best memories, and I'll try to make them things I haven't talked about before on this blog.

Fall break junior year in college, I stayed at a beach house in Rhode Island with nine of my best friends. It was the perfect setting, with perfect weather, we had perfect little adventures, we played fun games, and I just loved all those people. I was completely and totally happy that week.

My high school graduation, I got to give one of the graduation speeches. The only person I'd actually told what I would be talking about was a slightly crazy freshman (don't ask why that came about), so I wasn't sure what people would think. But it was very well received (better received than the other two student speeches), and though I'd never been popular in school, I was proud and felt appreciated.

OK, for the third I'm going to go with the first time I went to the aquarium when they had sea otters (it was some time in middle school). Sea otters had been my favorite animal for years, but I'd never before seen one in person. I just sat there watching them for an hour. I was thrilled.

3. If you had to change your real name what would you change it to?
There are all sorts of cool names I could think of--like names in Elvish, or names of characters in fantasy books--but if we're talking about what I really would change my name to, I'd have to say Bryony. OK, so it's kind of a fantasy book name, too, since the first time I ever heard the name was in Outcast of Redwall. But it's a legitimate name, and I've loved it ever since I read that book.

4. What are five things you can’t live without?
Can't live without, or just would be miserable without. I'll go with the latter, since it's more interesting than the former's "food, water, shelter, love, etc."

Video games/TV shows/movies/books (some sort of diverting media)

The internet (not the same as the above)

Candy/cookies/something sweet to snack on

A nice cold glass of milk

Singing


5. What are the 4 best books you’ve ever read?
Best books? Or my favorites? The first is too complicated (I don't think I have enough of a critical eye to judge that), so I'll go with the second and list four of my favorites. No guarantees they're actually good books, though.

The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
Martin the Warrior, by Brian Jacques
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
The Elfstones of Shannara, by Terry Brooks

6. Tell me something unique and interesting about yourself.
I wrote a term paper for an engineering course at a prestigious university on the Lord of the Ring's Bridge of Khazad-dûm. Ack, I always bring that one up, and it's not even unique because I had a partner on the project (and who knows, there may be other people who've done it as well). I can also make a snapping sound with my earlobe that's as loud as a good finger snap. Maybe in combination those are unique.

7. What do you love best about yourself?
I am interested in the most interesting things! OK, obviously I'm not an objective judge in that matter, but I guess what I'm essentially saying is, I like that I'm a geek. I think I have good geeky taste. Again, I don't know if I can say this is what I love best, but it is one thing I like about myself.

8. What is the best movie ever made?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They filmed them at the same time, so it's basically one movie. I have to choose just one? Really? Oh dear. Two Towers? No, RotK? No, Fellowship? No--Aaaahhh! Shutting...down...

9. If you had a “freaky Friday” experience who would you trade places with and why?
I wouldn't want to trade places with someone in power, since I wouldn't have a clue what to do. I wouldn't want to trade places with a celebrity, because paparazzi might get in the way. Really, I think I would be embarrassed to intrude on anyone's life that I respect. I wouldn't mind trading places with Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly so that I could ruin them but that would be a total ripoff of Angel's... Hmm. Right now, I'd go with someone who gets to test the Kinect. Or The Old Republic. Or maybe someone who's at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park that just opened. That's all I got.

10. What’s the best part about being a woman?
Angel may have gotten it right when he said wearing pretty dresses, though I might change it to wearing long skirts (I looove wearing a long flowing skirt on a windy day). But to come up with something different... OK, so you're at a party/neighborhood barbecue/in-laws' house/social gathering of some sort. Someone forces you into a game of pool/ping-pong/tennis/basketball/whatever. You are absolutely terrible at said activity. If you're a man, it's embarrassing when you totally fumble, try after try. Other guys shake their heads, express their disappointment, and you scramble to make excuses. If you're a woman, you just laugh about it and people think you're cute and say you're good for just trying. This may not always be the case, and maybe it's just a symptom of low expectations for women or something, but I have found it convenient.


Whew, that was quite the questionnaire! OK, so the bloggers I now choose for this award (no pressure to follow the rules, I have no expectations :-) are Sparkling Blue who writes Tales of a Gemsinger, and Mary of Quarterlife Adventures. All of you wonderful commenters deserve this award, but several of you have already received the award, and others of you recently got an award from me. I don't want to be too easy ;)